AFTER SCANDAL, CYCLING TRIES TO WHEEL BACK TO FUTURE

More eyes than ever have been averted from the athletes, so it makes sense that no one can see the serenity.

When it comes to cycling these days, people don’t want to hear it, so it’s understandable that the sighs of relief fall on deaf ears.

A sport already scarred by countless doping scandals watched its last shred of credibility disintegrate when Lance Armstrong confessed his cheating ways to Oprah Winfrey and the world in January.

To the average fan, it marked the end of cycling as they knew it.

To the average cyclist, however, it signaled a new beginning.

The Amgen Tour of California — indisputably the biggest cycling race in the United States — kicks off in Escondido today. And as much as you’d think Armstrong’s admission would detract from the eight-day event, it may have liberated it as well.

Yeah, perhaps cycling will never be the same, but like a man who signed the divorce papers after months of legal battles, at least it’s finally able to start fresh.

“I hope we have hit the bottom and got all the skeletons out of the closet,” said RadioShack Leopard-Trek team rider Jens Voigt at the pre-race press conference. “We’ve finished this. This fallout, it’s all finished. We take whatever we have to take in terms of punishments, consequences and hopefully we go across the line from here. I’m sure the sport’s so much better clean now.”

Perhaps it’s naive to think that cycling is clean now or ever will be. Armstrong vehemently denied any wrongdoing for years while passing every drug test imaginable. This sport is essentially defined by who can withstand the most agony, and seeking advantages appears inherent in its participants.

Then again, didn’t we say the same about baseball players for years? And aren’t we now seeing the attitude toward cheating go from standard to stigmatized?

Forget about the unforgiving disciplinary measures for a second and just look at the clubhouses. As Padres catcher Nick Hundley said to U-T columnist Kevin Acee when asked about busted teammate Yasmani Grandal, “You want to talk about a guy who is unproven and had a good couple months on steroids? Go ahead.”

That’s not indifference, that’s flat-out indignation. And it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to think that cyclists hold similar attitudes toward their sport’s impure.

But that doesn’t mean that fans are going to return. That doesn’t mean that the number of sponsorships is going to suddenly bounce back after this doping-induced recession.

Paris native Daniel Miralles, who rode in an amateur event in Escondido Saturday, said that he no longer watches the Tour de France, and imagines that most people find it harder and harder to support cycling these days.

So what will that mean for the crowd surrounding the finish line today? Will it be substantial and boisterous, or sparse and boring?

Paul Sherwen, a cycling commentator for the NBC Sports Network, predicts the former. He said that the cycling world is now free of the Armstrong era that began 15 years ago, and that a new base is already beginning to swell.

We’ll see about that.

Cyclist Tejay Van Garderen, who competes for the BMC Racing team, said at the press conference that he’d “like to hope the fans can move past what happened in that whole era of cycling. It’s a long time ago now. The sport of cycling has taken its hits. Hopefully the fans don’t lose faith in us now.”

Unfortunately for Van Garderen, most fans already lost faith. But he is likely correct that the tainted era has passed.

Right now, cycling is a like a Tour de France rider trudging up an Alp. The climb may be as steep as can be, but at least there’s forward progress.